August 2023 Most Anticipated New Book Releases

Contemporary & Literary Fiction

Family Lore

Elizabeth Acevedo

From the bestselling, National Book Award–winning author Elizabeth Acevedo comes her first novel for adults, the story of one Dominican-American family told through the voices of its women as they await a gathering that will forever change their lives.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: Ecco
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I Will Greet the Sun Again

Khashayar J. Khabushani

A poetic, open-hearted debut about an Iranian American boy searching for his place in the world. A stunning, tender novel of identity and belonging, I Will Greet the Sun Again tells the story of a young man lost in his own family, his own country, and his own skin. Staring down the brutality of being a queer kid and a Muslim in America, Khashayar J. Khabushani transforms personal and national pain into an unforgettable and beautifully rendered exploration of youth, love, family—and the stories that make us who we are.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: Hogarth
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Those We Thought We Knew

David Joy

From award-winning writer David Joy comes a searing new novel about the cracks that form in a small North Carolina community and the evils that unfurl from its center. Those We Thought We Knew is an urgent unraveling of the dark underbelly of a community. Richly drawn and bracingly honest, it asks what happens when the people you’ve always known turn out to be monsters, what do you do when everything you ever believed crumbles away?

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s & Sons
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The Lookback Window

Kyle Dillon Hertz

Growing up in suburban New York, Dylan lived through three years as a victim of sex trafficking at the hands of a troubled young man who promised to marry Dylan when he turned eighteen. Years later—long after a police investigation that went nowhere, and after the statute of limitations have run out—the long shadow of Dylan’s trauma still looms over the fragile life in the city he’s managed to build. His continued existence depends upon an all-important mantra: To survive, you live through it, but never look back. Then a groundbreaking new law—the Child Victims Act—opens a new way foreword.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
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Tom Lake

Ann Patchett

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again proves herself one of America’s finest writers.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: Harper
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A Council of Dolls

Mona Susan Power

The long-awaited, profoundly moving, and unforgettable new novel from PEN Award–winning Native American author Mona Susan Power, spanning three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women from the 19th century to the present day.

Publication date: August 8
Publisher: Mariner Books
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Hangman

Maya Binyam

An enthralling and original first novel about exile, diaspora, and the impossibility of Black refuge in America and beyond. Maya Binyam tells the story of that search, and of the phantoms, guides, tricksters, bureaucrats, debtors, taxi drivers, relatives, riddles, and strangers that will lead to the truth.

Publication date: August 8
Publisher: Mariner Books
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Shark Heart: A Love Story

Emily Habeck

A gorgeous debut novel of marriage, motherhood, metamorphosis, and letting go, this intergenerational love story begins with newlyweds Wren and her husband, Lewis—a man who, over the course of nine months, transforms into a great white shark.

Publication date: August 8
Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books
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Still Born

Guadalupe Nettel & Rosalind Harvey

Alina and Laura are independent and career-driven women in their mid-thirties, neither of whom have built their future around the prospect of a family. Laura is so determined not to become a mother that she has taken the drastic decision to have her tubes tied. But when she announces this to her friend, she learns that Alina has made the opposite decision and is preparing to have a child of her own. A profound novel about motherhood, friendship, and the power of community from “one of the leading lights in contemporary Latin American literature”.

Publication date: August 8
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
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The Bee Sting

Paul Murray

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and thought-provoking tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart.

Publication date: August 15
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Swim Home to the Vanished

Brendan Shay Basham

After the death of his brother, a grief-stricken young man seeks refuge and oblivion in a secluded fishing village dominated by a family of brujas in this haunting debut novel, inspired, in part, by the ramifications of Diné history and thought—a mesmerizing, original tale in the tradition of works by Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, and Gabriel García Márquez.

Publication date: August 22
Publisher: Harper
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Happiness Falls

Angie Kim

When a father goes missing, his family’s desperate search leads them to question everything they know about him and one another in this thrilling page-turner, a deeply moving portrait of a family in crisis from the award-winning author of Miracle Creek.

Publication date: August 29
Publisher: Hogarth
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Historical Fiction

The Apology

Jimin Han

This sweeping intergenerational saga tells the story of a pampered and defiant South Korean matriarch thrust into the afterlife from which she seeks a second chance to make amends—and fights off a tragic curse that could devastate generations to come.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co.
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A Bakery in Paris

Aimie K. Runyan

From the author of The School for German Brides, this captivating historical novel set in nineteenth-century and post–World War II Paris follows two fierce women of the same family, generations apart, who find that their futures lie in the four walls of a simple bakery in a tiny corner of Montmartre.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: William Morrow
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The End of August

Yu Miri

From the National Book Award winning author, an extraordinary, ground-breaking, epic multi-generational novel about a Korean family living under Japanese occupation.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: Riverhead
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The Peach Seed

Anita Gail Jones

Fletcher Dukes and Altovise Benson reunite after decades apart―and a mountain of secrets―in this debut exploring the repercussions of a single choice and how an enduring talisman challenges and holds a family together.

Publication date: August 1
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
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Canary Girls

Jennifer Chiaverini

Rosie the Riveter meets A League of Their Own in New York Times bestselling novelist Jennifer Chiaverini’s lively and illuminating novel about the “munitionettes” who built bombs in Britain’s arsenals during World War I, risking their lives for the war effort and discovering camaraderie and courage on the soccer pitch.

Publication date: August 8
Publisher: William Morrow
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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James McBride

From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them.

Publication date: August 8
Publisher: Riverhead Books
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The Romantic

William Boyd

A beguiling romp of a novel, at once intimate and panoramic, about the adventures and misadventures of a nineteenth-century everyman. The Romantic is the story of life itself. Following the roller-coaster fortunes of a man as he tries to negotiate the random stages, adventures and vicissitudes of his existence, from being a soldier to a pawnbroker, from being a jailbird to a gigolo to a diplomat – this is an intimate yet sweeping epic.

Publication date: August 15
Publisher: Knopf
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Learned by Heart

Emma Donoghue

A heartbreakingly gorgeous novel based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply, and dangerously in love at boarding school in 19th century York, from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder.

Publication date: August 29
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
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The Stockwell Letters

Jacqueline Friedland

From USA Today best-selling and multi-award-winning author Jacqueline Friedland comes a gripping work of fiction based on the true story of female abolitionist Ann Phillips and her connection to Anthony Burns, a young man who briefly escaped American slavery and rocked the nation with his astoundingly heroic story. 

Publication date: August 29
Publisher: Sparkpress
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Where There Was Fire

John Manuel Arias

A lush and lyrical debut novel about a Costa Rican family wrestling with a deadly secret, from rising literary star John Manuel Arias. When a lethal fire erupts at the American Fruit Company’s most lucrative banana plantation burning all evidence of a massive cover-up, the future of Teresa Cepeda Valverde’s family is changed forever.

Publication date: August 29
Publisher: Flatiron Books
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Romance

The Art of Scandal

Regina Black

A wildly steamy, utterly heartwarming debut filled with romance, artistic ambitions, political scandal, and finding love where you least expect it.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
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The Déjà Glitch

Holly James

To break out of a 24-hour time loop, all Jack needs is for Gemma to fall in love with him in a single day. All Gemma needs is to remember him first . . .

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Dutton
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The Hundred Loves of Juliet

Evelyn Skye

It’s a frosty fairytale of an evening in small-town Alaska when Helene and Sebastien meet for the first time. Except it isn’t the first time. You already know that story, though it didn’t happen quite as Shakespeare told it. A woman discovers that she is part of a legendary love story that spans lives, years, and continents in this modern-day reimagining of Romeo and Juliet.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Del Rey
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Change of Plans

Dylan Newton

In this charming romantic comedy, a hometown hero comes to the rescue of a chef unexpectedly left to care for three little girls—who may end up saving him too.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Forever
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With Love, from Cold World

Alicia Thompson

Lauren Fox is the bookkeeper for Cold World, a tourist destination that’s always a winter wonderland despite being located in humid Orlando, Florida. Sure, it’s ranked way below any of the trademarked amusement parks, but it’s a fun place to work, even if “fun” isn’t exactly Lauren’s middle name. Her coworker Asa Williamson, on the other hand, is all about finding ways to enliven his days at Cold World—whether that means organizing the Secret Santa or teasing Lauren. When the owner asks Lauren and Asa to propose something (anything, really) to raise more revenue, their rivalry heats up as they compete to come up with the best idea.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Berkley
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The Blonde Identity

Evelyn Skye

The New York Times bestselling YA author of the beloved Gallagher Girls series bursts onto the adult scene with a fast-paced, hilarious road trip rom-com about a woman with amnesia who discovers she’s the identical twin sister of a rogue spy… and must team up with a rugged, grumpy operative to stay alive.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Avon
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The Book of Silver Linings

Nan Fischer

Within the margins of an antique book, a timeless love waits for a young woman on the precipice of a terrible mistake in this enthralling exploration of fate and independence from the acclaimed author of Some of It Was Real.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Berkley
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Curves for Days

Laura Moher

Rose Barnes has got curves for days―and to Angus Drummond, the big, bearded contractor working on her new house, she’s the perfect thorn in his side. Little does she know Angus is perturbed on a daily basis by his attraction to this cheery, smart-ass woman with her sunshiny enthusiasm, her kindness, and her beautiful body.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
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The Love Plot

Jenna Levine

There’s a magnetic attraction when a happy-go-lucky gig worker agrees to a fake relationship with a rich, uptight New Yorker in this steamy romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Samantha Young.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Berkley
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My Roommate Is a Vampire

Jenna Levine

Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price. Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Berkley
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Thrillers & Mysteries

Just Another Missing Person

Gillian McAllister

From the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a new heart-stopping thriller in which a missing-person case unravels deeper, darker secrets that lead a detective to an impossible moral choice.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: William Morrow
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Gone Tonight

Sarah Pekkanen

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
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Small Town Sins

Ken Jaworowski

Ken Jaworowski’s Small Town Sins is a gripping Rust Belt thriller that captures the characters of a down-and-out Pennsylvania town, revealing their troubled pasts and the crimes that could cost them their lives.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Review | Amazon | Bookshop.org

What Never Happened

Rachel Howzell Hall

It’s murder in paradise as a woman uncovers a host of secrets off the rocky California coast in a gripping novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author Rachel Howzell Hall.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
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The Hurricane Blonde

Halley Sutton

A former child starlet is plunged back into the dangerous glitter of Hollywood after discovering the body of a young actress.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Son
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None of This Is True

Lisa Jewell

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose, Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Atria Books
Review | Amazon | Bookshop.org

North of Nowhere

Allison Brennan

After 5 years in hiding from their murderous father, the day Kristen and Ryan McIntyre have been dreading has arrived: Boyd McIntyre, head of a Los Angeles crime family, has at last tracked his kids to a small Montana town and is minutes away from kidnapping them. They barely escape in a small plane, but gunfire hits the fuel line. The pilot, a man who has been raising them as his own, manages to crash land in the middle of the Montana wilderness. The siblings hike deep into the woods, searching desperately for safety―unaware of the severity of the approaching storm.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Minotaur Books
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Whalefall

Daniel Kraus

The Martian meets 127 Hours in this powerfully humane and scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: MTV Books
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The Trade Off

Sandie Jones

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick The Other Woman comes The Trade Off, an electrifying new novel of suspense that begs the question: Would you tell a story, if you knew it was a lie? Or tell the truth and sleep at night?

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Minotaur Books
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Burlington

Heather Dixon

Mae Roberts is certain her new life in the suburbs with her family will be everything she’s always wanted. That is, until one of the mothers from her daughters’ school goes missing.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher:
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I’m Not Done with You Yet

Jesse Q. Sutanto

Some friends—and friendships—are worth killing for in this dark, twisty suspense novel by national bestselling author Jesse Q. Sutanto. A struggling midlist writer whose novels barely command four figures, she feels trapped in an underwhelming marriage, just scraping by to pay a crippling Bay Area mortgage for a house—a life—she’s never really wanted. There’s only ever been one person she cared about, one person who truly understood her: Thalia.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Berkley
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Good Bad Girl

Alice Feeney

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things. Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Flatiron Books
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Horror & Gothic Fiction

Delicate Condition

Danielle Valentine

The Push meets The Silent Patient in a gripping thriller that follows a woman convinced a sinister figure is going to great lengths to make sure her pregnancy never happens―while the men in her life refuse to believe a word she says.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
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The Handyman Method

Nick Cutter & Andrew F. Sullivan

When a young family moves into an unfinished development community, cracks begin to emerge in both their new residence and their lives, as a mysterious online DIY instructor delivers dark subliminal suggestions about how to handle any problem around the house. The trials of home improvement, destructive insecurities, and haunted house horror all collide in this thrilling story.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Gallery/Saga Press
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Looking Glass Sound

Catriona Ward

From Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street, comes a masterful story about friendship and betrayal, dark obsessions, and the impossibility of escaping your own story.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Tor Nightfire
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Mister Magic

Kiersten White

Who is Mister Magic? Former child stars reunite to uncover the tragedy that ended their show—and discover the secret of its enigmatic host—in this skin-crawling story of pop culture fandom and ‘90s nostalgia from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Del Rey
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Fever House

Keith Rosson

A small-time criminal. A has-been rock star. A shadowy government agency. And a severed hand whose dark powers threaten to destroy them all.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Random House
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Vampires of El Norte

Arianna Reiche

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Berkley
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Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism

My Name Is Iris

Brando Skyhorse

Brando Skyhorse, the PEN/Hemingway Award–winning author of The Madonnas of Echo Park, returns with a riveting literary dystopian novel set in a near-future America where mandatory identification wristbands make second-generation immigrants into second-class citizens—a powerful family saga for readers of Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West and Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Avid Reader Press
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Forged by Blood (The Tainted Blood Duology, #1)

Ehigbor Okosun

A brilliant new voice brings a brilliant new novel: debut author Ehigbor Okosun’s first book in an action-packed, poignant duology inspired by Nigerian mythology—full of magic and emotion and set in a highly atmospheric, complex world in which a young woman fights to survive a tyrannical society, having everything stripped away from her, and seeks vengeance for her mother’s murder and the spilled blood of her people.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Harper Voyager
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Medusa’s Sister

Lauren J. A. Bear

A vivid and moving reimagining of the myth of Medusa and the sisters who loved her. Even before they were transformed into Gorgons, Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale were unique among their immortal family. Curious about mortals and their lives, Medusa and her sisters entered the human world in search of a place to belong, yet quickly found themselves at the perilous center of a dangerous Olympian rivalry and learned—too late—that a god’s love is a violent one. 

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Ace
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Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon

Wole Talabi

The debut fantasy novel from an award-winning, Nebula-nominated Nigerian author. A mythic tale of disgruntled gods, revenge, and a heist across two worlds, perfect for fans of Nnedi Okorafor, Neil Gaiman, Marlon James, and Karen Lord. 

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: DAW
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The Invisible Hour

Alice Hoffman

From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and the Practical Magic series comes an enchanting novel about love, heartbreak, self-discovery, and the enduring magic of books.

Publication date: August 15
Publisher: Atria Books
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More Perfect

Temi Oh

Using the myth of Eurydice as a structure, this riveting science fiction novel is set in a near-future London where it has become popular for folks to have a small implant that allows one access to a more robust social media experience directly as an augmented reality. However, the British government has taken oversight of this access to an extreme, slowly tilting towards a dystopian overreach, all in the name of safety.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Gallery/Saga Press
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The Great Transition

Nick Fuller Googins

For fans of Station Eleven and The Ministry for the Future, this richly imaginative, immersive, and profound novel is the electrifying story of a family in crisis that unfolds against the backdrop of our near future.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Atria Books
Review | Amazon | Bookshop.org

Thornhedge

T. Kingfisher

From USA Today bestselling author T. Kingfisher, Thornhedge is the tale of a kind-hearted, toad-shaped heroine, a gentle knight, and a mission gone completely sideways.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Tor Books
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He Who Drowned the World (The Radiant Emperor Duology, #2)

Shelley Parker-Chan

Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, is riding high after her victory that tore southern China from its Mongol masters. Now she burns with a new desire: to seize the throne and crown herself emperor. The sequel and series conclusion to She Who Became the Sun, the accomplished, poetic debut of war and destiny, sweeping across an epic alternate China. Mulan meets The Song of Achilles.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Tor Books
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The Water Outlaws

S. L. Huang

Inspired by a classic of martial arts literature, S. L. Huang’s The Water Outlaws are bandits of devastating ruthlessness, unseemly femininity, dangerous philosophies, and ungovernable gender who are ready to make history―or tear it apart.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Tordotcom
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Young Adult

The Last Girls Standing

Jennifer Dugan

In this queer YA psychological thriller from the author of Some Girls Do and Hot Dog Girl, the sole surviving counselors of a summer camp massacre search to uncover the truth of what happened that fateful night, but what they find out might just get them killed.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
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Foxglove (Belladonna, #2)

Adalyn Grace

The captivating sequel to the Gothic-infused Belladonna, in which Signa and Death face a supernatural foe determined to tear them apart. Dangerous, suspenseful, and seductive, this sequel to Signa and Death’s story is as utterly romantic as it is perfectly deadly.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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The Brothers Hawthorne (The Inheritance Games, #4)

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Drawn into twisted games on opposite sides of the globe, Grayson and Jameson—with the help of their brothers and the girl who inherited their grandfather’s fortune—must dig deep to decide who they want to be and what each of them will sacrifice to win.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
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Her Radiant Curse

Elizabeth Lim

From the New York Times bestselling author of Six Crimson Cranes comes a tale of two sisters—one as beautiful as the other is monstrous—who must fight to save each other when a betrothal contest gone wrong unleashes an evil that could sever their bond forever.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
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House of Marionne

J. Elle

From New York Times bestselling author J. Elle comes a modern-day YA romantic fantasy series opener about a glamorous magical world of social elites, forbidden love, and a dark magic that could destroy it all. A must-read for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Sarah J. Maas, and Bridgerton.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Razorbill
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A Multitude of Dreams

Mara Rutherford

Princess Imogen of Goslind has lived a sheltered life for three years at the boarded-up castle—she and the rest of its inhabitants safe from the bloody mori roja plague that’s ravaged the kingdom. But Princess Imogen has a secret, and as King Stuart descends further into madness, it’s at great risk of being revealed. Rations dwindle each day, and unhappy murmurings threaten to crack the facade of the years-long charade being played within the castle walls.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Inkyard Press
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Never A Hero (Only a Monster, #2)

Vanessa Len

These Violent Delights meets This Savage Song in this sequel to the contemporary fantasy Only a Monster from Vanessa Len that New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Garber called “mind-bending, heart wrenching, and unputdownable!”

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: HarperTeen
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Together We Rot

Skyla Arndt

A teen girl looking for the truth about her missing mother forms a reluctant alliance with her former best friend…in exchange for hiding him from his cult-leading family.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
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Short Stories & Essays

Witness: Stories

Jamel Brinkley

From National Book Award finalist Jamel Brinkley, Witness is an elegant, insistent narrative of actions taken and not taken. In these ten stories, each set in the changing landscapes of contemporary New York City, a range of characters―from children to grandmothers to ghosts―live through the responsibility of perceiving and the moral challenge of speaking up or taking action. 

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
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Congratulations, The Best Is Over!: Essays

R. Eric Thomas

The beloved bestselling author of Here for It returns with an all-new collection of heartening, deeply relatable, and laugh-out-loud essays about what happens after happily ever after.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Ballantine Books
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A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii

Kate Quinn, Stephanie Dray, Ben Kane, Eliza Knight, Sophie Perinot, & Vicky Alvear

From six bestselling authors, including New York Times bestseller Kate Quinn, comes a vividly imagined novel following the lives of those in ancient Pompeii on the fateful day Mount Vesuvius erupts.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: William Morrow
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Tomb Sweeping: Stories

Alexandra Chang

A playful and deeply affective short story collection about the histories, technologies, and generational divides that shape our relationships—from the award-winning writer of Days of Distraction. Compelling and perceptive, Tomb Sweeping probes the loyalties we hold: to relatives, to strangers, and to ourselves.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Ecco
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Thin Skin: Essays

Jenn Shapland

Examining capitalism’s toxic creep into the land, our bodies, and our thinking, this incisive new work is “a visceral exploration” (Katherine May, author of Wintering) from a National Book Award finalist and a powerful literary mind.

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Pantheon
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Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare: Stories

Megan Kamalei Kakimoto

From major new storytelling talent Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, a blazing, bodily, raucous journey through contemporary Hawaiian identity and womanhood. Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare is both a fierce love letter to Hawaiian identity and mythology, and a searing dispatch from an occupied territory threatening to erupt with violent secrets.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Bloomsbury
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Holler, Child: Stories

LaToya Watkins

An extraordinary and unforgettable short story collection about community, home, betrayal, and forgiveness—from a writer whose “spellbinding, buoyant”* storytelling will break your heart as it tends to the wounds.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Tiny Reparations
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Nonfiction

Anansi’s Gold: The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World

Yepoka Yeebo

The astounding, never-before-told story of how an audacious Ghanaian con artist pulled off one of the 20th century’s longest-running and most spectacular frauds.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
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The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, & Healing

Lara Love Hardin

New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot-caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
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Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping

Shane McCrae

An unforgettable memoir by an award-winning poet about being kidnapped from his Black father and raised by his white supremacist grandparents.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Scribner
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The Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean

Susan Casey

An awe-inspiring portrait of the mysterious world beneath the waves, and the men and women who seek to uncover its secrets. Susan Casey traversed the globe, joining scientists and explorers on dives to the deepest places on the planet, interviewing the marine geologists, marine biologists, and oceanographers who are searching for knowledge in this vast unseen realm. She takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of deep-sea exploration, from the myths and legends of the ancient world to storied shipwrecks we can now reach on the bottom.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Doubleday
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Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II

Lena S. Andrews

A groundbreaking new history of the role of American servicewomen in WWII, illuminating their forgotten yet essential contributions to the Allies’ victory. Now, military analyst Lena Andrews corrects the record with the definitive and comprehensive historical account of American servicewomen during World War II, based on new archival research, firsthand interviews with surviving veterans, and a deep professional understanding of military history and strategy.

Publication Date: August 1
Publisher: Mariner Books
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The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Povery in America

Kathryn J. Edin, H. Luke Shaefer, & Timothy Nelson

A sweeping and surprising new understanding of extreme poverty in America from the authors of the acclaimed $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America. 

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Mariner Books
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I See You, Survivor: Life Inside (and Outside) the Totally F*cked-Up Troubled Teen Industry

Liz Ianelli with Bret Witter

It’s called the Troubled Teen Industry and it is massive. Parents and the government spend a billion dollars a year for what amounts to institutionalized abuse. This is one survivor’s story and her fight for justice.

Publication Date: August 8
Publisher: Hachette Books
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The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built An Organization That Transformed America

Katherine Turk

In The Women of NOW, the historian Katherine Turk chronicles the growth and enduring influence of this foundational group through three lesser-known members who became leaders: Aileen Hernandez, a federal official of Jamaican American heritage; Mary Jean Collins, a working-class union organizer and Chicago Catholic; and Patricia Hill Burnett, a Michigan Republican, artist, and former beauty queen. 

Publication Date: August 15
Publisher: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux
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Book of Queens: The True Story of the Middle Eastern Horsewomen Who Fought the War on Terror

Pardis Mahdavi

The untold story of generations of Middle Eastern freedom fighters—horsewomen who safeguarded an ancient breed of Caspian horse—and their efforts to defend their homelands from the Taliban and others seeking to destroy them.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Hachette
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Dream Town: Shaker Heights & the Quest for Racial Equity

Laura Meckler

In this searing and intimate examination of the ideals and realities of racial integration, award-winning Washington Post journalist Laura Meckler tells the story of a decades-long pursuit in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and uncovers the roadblocks that have threatened progress time and again―in housing, in education, and in the promise of shared community.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
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Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail

Andrea Lankford

From an award-winning former law enforcement park ranger and investigator, this female-driven true crime adventure follows the author’s quest to find missing hikers along the Pacific Crest Trail by pairing up with an eclectic group of unlikely allies.

Publication Date: August 22
Publisher: Hachette
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Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words

Jenni Nuttall

An enlightening linguistic journey through a thousand years of feminist language—and what we can learn from the vivid vocabulary that English once had for women’s bodies, experiences, and sexuality.

Publication Date: August 29
Publisher: Viking
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